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“At some point, although I doubt the Grassos will push me any further. Keep your ear to the ground about weapons coming in and prepare the warehouse in the old neighborhood.”
The warehouse housed a variety of casino equipment, the address in a bogus name. To date it had yet to be raided, which was why only a select few men, as well as my sister, knew of its location.
“Move the merchandise?”
“Likely but wait for my call.”
“Will do.”
After he left, I yanked out my phone. I didn’t give a shit what time of night it was. Tristen would be dealt with because of what he’d done. When the call went straight to voicemail, it was just as well. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him tonight. “Tristen. Be in my office tomorrow at ten. Don’t be late.”
He’d know just by my tone of voice I was pissed. Whatever the hell he’d been trying to do didn’t matter. His behavior had been inexcusable.
Then I contacted Brogan, growing more impatient by the minute.
“I was just about to call you,” he said, his usual accent much thicker than normal.
“You found something.”
“What I found on the Grassos was nothing more than confirmation. They’ve been expanding, the cartel out of South America providing muscle as well as boats. They’d getting heavily into the arms business, drugs a backburner. They are down and dirty players and nothing else.”
“Which means they have the manpower but not the brain power to make significant changes.”
“Exactly. The question is whether or not we want to take them out in entirety.”
“Let me think about it,” I told him.
Brogan laughed. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Call me if you have any brilliant ideas.”
“By the way, I have a name for you to check on our mystery player. The Emissary.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“Yeah, it does to me as well.”
“I’ll add that to mix,” he said. “However, this may take time.”
Time we didn’t have. “Just let me know.”
I headed into my office, tossing my phone on the desk then pouring a stiff bourbon before doing anything else. There was nothing worse than being played. After fisting my drink, I moved toward my desk, grabbing the file Barrett had left on Jade, flipping through it. The documentation was everything he’d gathered together years before, nothing new added. What I hadn’t paid any attention to was the fact there was no mention of Jade’s father on a single page. None. The information was supposed to be a carbon copy of everything the detectives had gathered, which meant either they’d kept the information from us or also hadn’t known about the man. It shouldn’t have mattered, but I had no doubt it was the smoking gun.
I yanked off my jacket, sliding my weapon behind my back and took a deep breath. She’d obviously been told to keep her personal life secret. Hadn’t that brought questions to her mind?
After firing up the laptop, I shifted to everything I’d obtained in my initial investigation, attempting to find out where she’d run to. If what Tristen had said was right, she’d been born in New York. That also didn’t mean shit. I filtered what little I’d found realizing I’d stopped the hunt given she’d slipped into the shadows.
While she was a clever girl, no one did that without help, especially since her mother was chemically dependent. There were ways of disappearing, but even the witness protection program had its faults, especially given the number of talented hackers who worked for various organizations such as mine.
Either Jade was well aware of the help she’d received, or she’d been completely naïve. It would appear we needed to spend some additional quality time together. She’d come a long way in trusting me after spending time at the stable, but it would take a hell of a lot more. What I knew for certain was that someone wanted her dead.
That still left too many questions about his work ethics. Friend or foe, the person responsible had surreptitiously placed chains around my business.
I fingered her picture, taking several sips of bourbon. She’d gotten under my skin so far I could feel the outer layer peeling away, exposing far too much of a man I’d never valued. He was the one who longed for closeness, sharing laughter instead of business propositions. He’d been the wide-eyed kid who’d believed his father was a good guy.
And he’d been the one to learn the hard way that a man either chose to walk the straight and narrow or lay claim to the danger and darkness surrounding evil. I’d chosen to ride the line, which had brought me to this place.
Hissing, I gathered everything together, shoving the files in a drawer. Then I polished off the rest of my drink, pounding the glass onto the surface of the bar before walking out. As I flicked off the light, the very darkness I’d just thought about put me on edge. But it also reminded me that I wanted to protect Jade at all costs. Had the layers she’d peeled aside exposed a weakness?
Maybe so, but for the first time in as long as I could remember, I felt hope, as well as continued vibrations every time I thought about her. Maybe it was time to make room for more in my life than niceties and possessions.
